During the recent “controversy” surrounding Antonio Galloni’s appointment as the Wine Spectator’s correspondent for California and Burgundy (both of which he has admitted to visiting twice – I’ve been to CA twice and Burgundy a bit more often!), Randall Grahm wrote on Dr Vino’s blog to praise Galloni:

“A very interesting interview with Mr. Galloni, who appears to handle direct and challenging questions with the deftness of a diplomat. I am very heartened to hear that he comes to wine with an open-minded palate, and is looking for excellence in wines in a diverse range of styles. It is so important that the influential wine press do their best to encourage excellence and diversity beyond a narrow stylistic range, however personally cordial that range may be to them.”

I contacted Randall directly about this, asking, “Do you not think that wine writers should encourage what they believe to be the most authentic expression of any given terroir rather than more outré interpretations…?”

His response: “I am in agreement that outré stylistics are infinitely less interesting that true expressions of terroir. (And would suggest that the New World modern style is generally a stylistic overreaching.) But I am glad that there are people making orange wines, fermenting oddball grapes in amphorae, making wines without SO2, making wines with tons of SO2 (Manfred Prüm). An influential wine writer has to ask him(her)self if his own predilections are making the world of wine richer or more impoverished. Great terroirs are precious and are worth championing. Cheers, Randall.”